Sights in Senegal

Introduction to the Five Senses of Senegal:

Since I did a post awhile back on the smells of Senegal I thought, (along with some discussion with that certain father and a certain mother as well) that I would go through all of the senses and try and give you, as a reader, a better sense of what life is like in Senegal.  These sights, smells, touches, tastes, and sounds are a part of my life in Senegal.  They are not unique really to one day or one celebration, most often they are things that I experience frequently.

Termite mounds are abundant throughout Senegal.  When I first saw them I thought they were ancient ruins, much like the Mayan pyramids that you can see still hidden in the "bush" of Mexico but before I actual spoke about those thoughts to anyone I asked.  Turns out they are termite mounds, disgusting, bad for the trees, mounds of termites.  Kids.  Kids are everywhere in Senegal.  But the most interesting difference about the kids here is that they go to the bathroom wherever they please.  Most often in my compound it is on the ground and one of the mothers or an older sibling scoops up some sand and cleans it all away.  There was the one time this week when my little sister, Tene, decided to go on my front porch, but just like everywhere else it is now spotless!  Whenever I bike to Tamba I always love seeing the mile-markers.  It isn't that far, 10km, but knowing which dilapidated mile marker is about to show up on my bike trip is a terrific motivator when the wind is blowing in my face and my backpack is loaded down with vegetables.  Coming to Tamba is the time when we get to see BACON!  And by this I mean the wild pigs that roam around, particularly in the trash river.  Biking into Tamba provides me with lots of sights (and smells and tastes for that matter but that comes later).  I always bike into Tamba in the morning, leaving Botou at 7am and as I arrive in Tamba I see many women walking with baskets and buckets to the daily fish market that is just on the outskirts of Tamba.  Men shave their heads at what seem to be random periods of the year.  One moment my uncles or host dad will have a modest head of hair, the next moment, bald!  Babies are also bald.  At birth, most babies come with some hair but a week after they are born before the naming ceremony they shave off all their hairs, even the baby girls!  It is quite distressing actually to see them take a razor to a tiny baby's head.  They also cut dogs ears and donkeys tails.  I'm not really sure why they do either.  I've heard that it is to keep the bugs/flies away, but it seems counterproductive to me when there are gobs of blood coming out of their ears and rear ends, a perfect habitat for blood thirsty insects.  Dust is everywhere in my hut!  I can't get rid of it.  Things are no longer clean or sponged off, they are dusty.  It's just a fact and I've gotten over my OCD about cleaning it 24/7.  Now I just clean everything only once a day.  Whenever cars come into the village it is a sight for the whole village.  A car, in our village?  Whatever are they doing here?  Nobody owns a car in Botou so seeing one is a pretty big deal.  Again when I bike into Tamba I see lots of truck drivers, many from Mali with their trucks parked on the side of the road.  Most of them have pulled out mats and blankets and are sleeping or praying underneath or beside their trucks.  UN trucks.  On December 29, 2014 there was an attack on a UN refugee camp in northern Mali and because of the presence of the camp and the attack in particular there are always (and sometimes more frequently) trucks with UN posted on the side going past Botou on their way to Mali.  Baobab trees, a tree many think of as a "typical African tree" are de-leafed in my village.  All their leaves stripped and eventually they will grow back during the hot/rainy season.  And finally, the sight of my host siblings watering the garden as I come back from Tamba is a true delight!